


A place to stay

by Starhallow



Series: Multifandom Oneshots and Drabbles [2]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Arya goes West, Arya is still zombified and in shock, F/M, Gendry has a lot of feelings, Kind of angsty, Season 8, Tumblr Prompt, gendry and jon friendship, goodbye scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-30
Updated: 2019-06-30
Packaged: 2020-05-31 06:34:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,240
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19420447
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Starhallow/pseuds/Starhallow
Summary: Gendry wakes up in a bed that's not his own the day Jon is sent to The Wall. When he rushes to the ship to say goodbye, Jon asks for a favour.





	A place to stay

Gendry was face down on a mattress when he woke up to the sound of Sir Davos on the other side of the door. Somehow, a small part of Gendry's brain had become aware of the fact that if Sir Davos was awake, so should he. He stretched his arms and arched his back with his eyes still closed, and decided to get dressed and leave the rooms as soon as the voices in the hall quieted. It wouldn't be good for him if he were discovered there.

He twisted his body to the side and sat on the bed, ignoring the knot on the base of his throat. She had left while he slept. Again. It shouldn't surprise him, he told himself, after all, she had ignored him the entire time they had stayed under the same roof until she had suddenly ambushed him the night before.

It had been after the feast, Gendry had spent it sitting with Podric and Davos, ignoring the former as he tried to convince Gendry to at least talk to one of the serving girls. He had decided to walk back to his chambers soon after, but she had appeared in his way and he had been unable to say no. That was his problem, he had told her no one time, and he had been unable to contradict her ever since. In his defence, he had lost her after the only time he had said no to her.

She, however, didn't have the same problem, it seemed. She seemed to say no to him with the same ease that she had always said no to being a lady. Who knew, they might be one and the same in her head at that point because she hadn't stopped to listen when Gendry had tried to explain. There was a horrible voice in the back of Gendry's mind that told him that the only reason she had done so was that Jon was leaving.

Jon was leaving. He had promised Jon he would go say goodbye.

Not really caring about what other people would think, he rushed to get dressed and run down the Red Keep, almost bumping into Lord Tyrion until he reached the docs. Jon was already aboard, but the crew were still finishing their business before voyaging. Jon walked to him and hugged him with a rare smile on his face as they talked until the captain informed Jon they would be leaving soon.

“I have a favour to ask you,” Jon told Gendry, “Arya is going West and I'd feel better knowing she will find shelter in the South should she need it. Could you help her?”

“I'm sure Arya can manage a trip to Casterly Rock Jon, but sure.”

“No, no. She's going West of Westeros, says no one knows what's there and she wants to find out.”

“She's leaving? For how long?” Gendry felt the knot tightening on his throat.

“No one knows. That's why I need to know she'd have a place to stay with you should she need it.”

“If she comes to Storms and I'm Lord, she will have a place to stay,” He said, “Do you know when she leaves?”

“Soon, I think. They are readying her ship over there,” Jon answered, “send a raven if you ever want to visit The Wall” he followed, hugging Gendry once more.

“My lords may send me there before summer arrives if I am all they fear me to be,” he said, forcing a smile as Jon boarded again.

He wandered the port looking for her ship, she would want to leave soon Gendry knew. She always did. She left him alone before the horns had blown when the Walkers came, she had left when he had found her after the battle, she hadn't looked back after she had rejected him after the feast, and she had been gone when he had gone to fetch her at dawn broke the following day. He had left her once, and in return, she would be leaving him forever.

He kicked a pebble and sent it lying to the water. He stood in that spot until he saw her approach, wearing that stupid mask he hated. She acknowledged him when she stood close enough, “Gendry.”

“Jon told me you're leaving.”

“I want to know what's West of Westeros.”

“Did it ever occur to you I may want to say goodbye?” he said, the knot on his throat straining his voice.

“I thought it best this way.”

“You always think it best this way, it doesn't mean it actually is.” He looked at her harshly.

“Is that all?” She asked. Gendry's father had been legendary for the fury that had driven him to start a war for a woman. Gendry's was about to become so because he would start a war with one. It wouldn't matter, she would win, and he would have to lick his wounds alone.

“The next time you want someone to ring your bells because you're about to leave or get yourself killed, seek Podric.” He answered. A childish comeback, maybe, but the only one he could give her without showing her how she had hurt him again. He walked past her.

“That's not fair!” she shouted behind him, making him turn, “If I go to you, is because I want you. You are the one that wants me to change.”

“That's what you think? That I would force you to do anything you wouldn't want to? That's why I forge your weapons? That's why seeing you use them makes my blood boil? Why would I want to change you? Just be you. No one else can. That is why I fell in love with you.”

“You don't even know me.”

“Oh I do, and I think that it terrifies you. Because this, whatever this is,” he said wildly gesturing towards her face “isn't you. You didn't fight across Westeros to get back home to just leave now. You may tell yourself otherwise, and I've always accepted that I needed you more than you needed me, but I at least expected you to stay for the pack you fought for. So if you need to go West to figure it out, or if you need to find adventure at sea, or if you end up East trying to go West,... Whatever you do, know you'll have a place to stay in Stom's End if you ever need it.”

“I don't want you to wait for me.” She said, her eyes hard.

“I'm not going to,” he answered, and her eyes widened slightly and her eyebrows raised for a millisecond before she schooled her expression into a neutral mask once again, “I'm not going to wait, but it's not like I can take my feelings for you and send them away on a ship. You saved my life again and again when we were children, I owe it to you, and to your brother because he is my friend.”

They stood there in silence for a heartbeat, and when she remained silent, indifferent to whatever he had just said judging from her expression, Gendry bowed, and bid her farewell with a word he knew she would hate but was as true as her leaving him behind again, “Princess.”

And at that moment, Arya knew that she couldn't leave her feelings behind either.

* * *

[Prompt list here](https://msstarhallow.tumblr.com/post/185937075889/drabble-challenge); [ask link here](https://msstarhallow.tumblr.com/ask).

**Author's Note:**

> Hello!!  
> The prompt request was: "Be you. No one else can."  
> This a prompt that was requested on Tumblr based on a list I reblogged yesterday. If any of you have suggestions or want to check the prompt list and ask for one or whatever, my tumblr is @msstarhall  
> #I do this for myself but also validate me  
> Aaaaaaaaaaaaaanyway.  
> Lots of love!


End file.
